Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Monster at 31 Months

Since I have not done so well with the text recently, I am going to try and get a bit more down.


Robby has become such a joy to talk with.  He is insightful, creative, and SUCH an instigator.  He is very careful with his speech.  He carefully considers each word before it comes out of his mouth, but his vocabulary is astounding.  Frequently I wonder where something comes from, whether he's yelling, "We be jammin'" in the grocery store, or talking about gardening, or just is asking for the definition of absolutely everything.  He IS making up tons of stories right now.  Last week, I took him to the doctor and had to start with, "Well, he's 2 and 1/2.  He SAYS that his neck, ear, and belly hurt, and he's dizzy.  I only believe the ear."  Also, if you say no, or tell him something he doesn't like, it's "Don't say "nope".  Don't tell me that.  I watch show.  Daddy said I watch show."  Someone else always has supposedly promised him something.  I get in a little trouble, too, when he reprimands his father.  For instance, "Christopher, you not listening.  My tell Christopher to stop."  That doesn't thrill Chris so much at the moment.  He still says "my" for "I" about 90% of the time and skips some smaller words, but he does REALLY well.  We get comments all the time on how smart and verbal he is.
  

 He continues to look more and more like Jim.  At Thanksgiving, my mom was saying, "It's so weird, he acts like Katy, but he looks like Jim."  Certainly, he has more of Chris's build and face shape, but he looks a lot like my brother.


Music continues to be one of his primary loves.  In particular, marching band music.  He will lead everyone around the house playing different instruments, and insists that it is what we listen to in the car.  He also still loves trucks and trains.  He will tell you that daddy is an engineer, and that means that he draws the pictures to tell the construction workers what to do at the construction site.  He also points out every retention basin and says, "Daddy built that!"  



The animals continue to surprise us.  They are so fantastically tolerant of him.  He loves playing with them, but is still a bit rough.  OK, a lot rough.  But they have never been anything but angelic.  He will tell you that Monster is my cat, Harper is his dog, and that Daddy has a duck (?).  He also claims to see panda bears any time he is out with my mom.





Napping has become more of a battle.  He isn't a big fan.  He still will take 2-3 hour naps at daycare, but fights them at home.  Though as we speak he's on his 2nd hour.  Miracle!  (and I'm cursing myself)  At night, we finally broke the needing to come sleep in our bed, and then had a couple weeks of needing to sleep with the light on, but everything has settled down again.  He sleeps pretty well from around 8/8:30pm until 6am.  He has to have about 5 MILLION stuffed animals, and they have to be arranged properly, but that's ok.  He comes up with a lot of excuses why he can't go to sleep, including that he's peed, though...spoiler...he's still in diapers.  We need to switch to a twin bed, but he's still in a crib without a side for the moment.




Robby was SOOOO excited for Christmas.  And I will try and do a Christmas post soon.  He really understood, too.  He was thrilled to see Santa and did twice.  Once (above) he told him primarily about the motorcycle on his shirt, and the second time he announced, "My throw up on Mommy Daddy's bed."  Nice, kid, nice.  We did a paper chain to count down the days until Christmas, which was very effective from about 10 days out.  He insisted he wanted a train most of the time, but also would tell you guns or a pink castle, just because we had flinched when he said it at some point, and he loved the reactions.  


Cooking is still a big hit, and Chris is a little horrified that I let him do so much on his own.  He measures, dumps, turns the mixer on, etc...  We joke that he could probably keep the animals alive on his own.  For example, he measures 2 cups of food into Harper's dish every meal, then puts 2 1/2 tsp of enzyme on it, adds water, and mixes.  He's got it down.  



Oh snow.  He LOVES the stuff.  He won't stay out forever, because he does get cold, but he REALLY REALLY REALLY loves it.  There is much shrieking if it starts to snow.  We started sledding at the park by our house this year, which has been a big hit.  We haven't had good snow for making snowmen, though, so that hasn't happened yet.




Robby is incredibly helpful, but in his own way.  The above picture was impressive and terrifying.  I went to use the bathroom, and Robby decided to unload the dishwasher.  He carefully put all the silverware into the drawer, except, knowing he wasn't supposed to play with them, he brought all the knives UPSTAIRS to me.  Well, he kind of has the idea.   



Other cute sayings:

- Memaw and Pop Pop live in "Apple Seed" (this is not correct)
- Right now I'm being told "I not want you finish it.  You come down when you finish this?"  Ok, I'll stop.  :)

Friday, December 6, 2013

The Lion at 2.5


Can you believe it!?!?  2.5!  It has gone so fast. And you know what else you won't believe?  I'm on a train. Ok, that was entirely predictable.  I will try to remember to write text later. Almost to my stop. 






Friday, November 8, 2013

The Lion at 29 Months

**Note - I wrote this at least a week ago and didn't realize it didn't publish**

So... This month is actually fairly similar to last month. And I apologize for typos. I'm on a train again, so while that means I have time, it also means typing on a phone. Ugh. 
I say the same, but his behavior is better, and the friend situation seems to be improving. There are so many post 23rd things I want to discuss, but I'll hold off. For behavior, time outs are getting more effective and he will listen and sit at least briefly. Yay!  Less hitting/biting, but more willful disobedience. Mmm. 



He still is music and football crazy and the drum above is part of his Halloween costume. A Penn State Blue Band Drummer. Chris may be influencing things. 

This month my parents really moved here. Robby is getting to do all sorts of cool stuff when they pick him up early in the afternoons. See above. I'm pretty jealous. I believe today they will be swimming. 


Art is a big deal around here, too. He likes cutting, gluing, coloring, and PAINTING. 



I may have lost my mind but I sacrificed a dress shirt and let him paint on canvases with my acrylics. I actually love the one on the bottom right. 


I love when I do get to be involved. Above was a Halloween parade (aka all about the marching band and fire trucks).  Didn't march this year, but he sure thought it was cool. 

Yes, the numbering seems ridiculous. "Almost 2.5", ok?

He's a boy. No way around it. Even Harper will now rough house and play tug with him. Which he LOVES. I love our conversations. I love our morning cuddles (even if Chris is trying to ban him from our bed). And I love my little adventurer. 

Halloween

Well, this will be fast, but I want it up. Robby went as a drummer in the Penn State Blue band. I was pleased with how it turned out. We saw the parade at his daycare, trick-or-treated briefly at Chris's admin's house, Robby fell and hurt his hand, and we tried to meet some neighbors and weren't so successful. Happy late Halloween!









 

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The Lion at 28 Months





I WILL at least get these monthly posts up.  Though at what age is it ridiculous?  Since they're mostly for my memory, I want to still have them, so...there.  Robby is still a pretty great 2 year old.  Chris might not agree after getting bitten twice tonight, but generally I think it's going well.  Still independent, demanding, willful, but he has been since he was born.  Woah to the teenage years.

We've definitely been having some behavioral issues recently.  He ends up in time out at daycare daily, but they assure us that's normal.  I don't know.  It doesn't seem ok to me that he hits/bites/fights over toys.  I feel so powerless as a working mom that just isn't around that much.  I WISH I felt like I had more influence on him.

On the flip side, he is very perceptive, which means he can either be manipulative or sweet.  He has started telling "stories".  For instance, I came home today, and he told me that Chris had hurt his back when he fell on the floor in the kitchen.  Not true.  Not sure where that's coming from.  He will say, "Daddy's not listening" if we bicker and he notices, but also he out of the blue will say something like, "Daddy, thank you for football.  Fun." after we went to our local high school's game last week.

His best recent comment was when we went apple picking a week ago.  I thought, "Oh, great!  Teachable moment!" And, thinking I was smart, said, "Robby, if apples grow on trees, what else do you think grows on trees?"  Without pause, he answered, "Logs".  Well played, kid, well played.

Physically, he's pretty impressive.  He is coordinated and can do any piece of playground equipment, even if it's meant for older than him.  This includes ladders, being pushed on a big swing (slowly), scarily big slides, etc.  His favorite park activity is running the bases on the baseball field, though.

He is social, but I feel like he's starting to clam up a bit from the truly outgoing boy he used to be.  He does not talk about friends at school nearly as much as he did at the old school, though he talks about his teacher a lot.  He still will talk to strangers, but it usually takes a little prompting.  This might actually be a relief.

MUSIC.  Robby LOVES marching band music and singing.  Most nights during our dog walk, he sings a good 75% of the time.  Usually the Penn State fight song, "Old MacDonald", or "Wheels on the Bus", though he enjoys "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "Twinkle Twinkle", or "ABC's", as well.  He has also declared that he will be a "drummer man" for Halloween, so I need to get on that.

Eating is still pretty varied.  Some days he pigs out, some days he barely eats.  He is not particularly picky, though he would eat all junk if you let him.  He LOVES lollipops, grapes, carrots and hummus, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagels, and apples.  But he'll really eat most things most days.  Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with pesto, salad, and bread and butter.  Gorged himself.  Love that this isn't an issue.  Though, maybe sometimes I worry that he eats too MUCH.

I love that he's completely still my little man, even though I'm not around.  He is so excited when I get home, and then is suction cupped to me.  I love that we can now have conversations.  I love that he is smart, funny, creative, and eager to try new things.  I love that he loves to read, sing, and just play.  Generally, I love you, Rob.